The investigation into unusual spikes in Ahwatukee water customers’ usage last summer has ended with the city Water Services Department exonerated and scores of residents out hundreds of dollars in payments they called abnormally high.

Ahwatukee residents can learn about and weigh in on a proposed South Mountain Freeway interchange at 32nd Street or any other construction-related issue when the Arizona Department of Transportation holds an open house on that and other construction issues next week.

Times Media Group (TMG), the locally based publisher of 17 Valley publications, including the East Valley Tribune and the West Valley View, announced April 3 that Michael Hiatt will join the company as its vice president and chief revenue officer.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...

The 2018 legislative session concluded last week, capped off by a nearly 24-hour work day on the budget last Wednesday. This session was focused on K-12 education funding, as we sought to get our local schools and our teachers more support.

Red for Ed came to the Kyrene School District headquarters on April 11. A grandparent of four granddaughters who have attended Kyrene community public schools, I decided to attend the Red for Ed Rally.

On the morning of March 21, video of 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg being run down by a self-driving Uber vehicle in Tempe quickly became the most-watched drama on local television and across the Internet. This should come as no surprise. A barbarous bunch getting more bloodthirsty by the day, …

You know those “national conversations” we have all the time, about the big issues: guns, sexual harassment of women and the latest episode of “The Bachelor”? It’s time for Arizona to have a “state conversation.” The subject?

We were standing on the 14th hole of the Arizona Biltmore golf course when The Guy From Grand Rapids, maybe four beers and 80 strokes in, began to expound about his lack of desire. Not that kind of desire (for which I thank heavens). His lack of desire to see the Grand Canyon.

Spring is coming, producing not only longer and warmer days but also an overproduction both in our homes and on our streets of unwanted puppies and kittens. As a result, more animals will be dumped at local shelters or left to mature and reproduce on their own in our alleys and neighborhoods.

Some weeks, you cannot stomach another cynical look at our cynical times. Instead, you seek a few hundred words of inspiration. Then you spot Captain Benny Ashley shuffling across Columbus Avenue in midtown Phoenix and you know his is exactly the story to tell.

A local high school soccer club with ties throughout Ahwatukee and the East Valley is getting ready to play in Salt Lake City next month in the 2018 US Soccer Far West Regional President’s Cup and eyeing national finals. Read more

The NFL Draft got underway last Thursday with Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield going first overall to the Cleveland Browns. The league’s annual selection meeting is a familiar place for many local high school players. Read more

The impact of the Arizona teacher strike could stretch to ball fields and tennis courts if school districts decide to cancel their varsity and junior varsity playoff participation in the face of the walkout. Read more